1.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

3.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government

4.
The Championships, Wimbledon
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The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and is widely considered the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. Since the Australian Open shifted to hardcourt in 1988, Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass. The tournament takes place two weeks in late June and early July, culminating with the Ladies and Gentlemens Singles Final. Five major, junior, and invitational events are each year. Wimbledon traditions include a dress code for competitors and Royal patronage. The tournament is notable for the absence of sponsor advertising around the courts. In 2009, Wimbledons Centre Court was fitted with a roof to lessen the loss of playing time due to rain. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is a club founded on 23 July 1868. Its first ground was off Worple Road, Wimbledon, in 1876, lawn tennis, a game devised by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so earlier and originally given the name Sphairistikè, was added to the activities of the club. In spring 1877, the club was renamed The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, a new code of laws, replacing the code administered by the Marylebone Cricket Club, was drawn up for the event. Todays rules are similar except for such as the height of the net and posts. The inaugural 1877 Wimbledon Championship started on 9 July 1877 and the Gentlemens Singles was the event held. It was won by Spencer Gore, an old Harrovian rackets player, about 200 spectators paid one shilling each to watch the final. The lawns at the ground were arranged so that the court was in the middle with the others arranged around it. The name was retained when the Club moved in 1922 to the present site in Church Road, however, in 1980 four new courts were brought into commission on the north side of the ground, which meant the Centre Court was once more correctly defined. The opening of the new No.1 Court in 1997 emphasised the description, by 1882, activity at the club was almost exclusively confined to lawn tennis and that year the word croquet was dropped from the title. However, for reasons it was restored in 1899

5.
Glossary of tennis terms
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This page is a glossary of tennis terminology. Ace, Serve where the ball lands inside the service box and is not touched by the receiver, thus. Aces are usually powerful and generally land on or near one of the corners at the back of the service box, initially the term was used to indicate the scoring of a point. Action, Synonym of spin ad, Used by the umpire to announce the score when a player has the advantage. See scoring in tennis ad court, Left side of the court of each player, advantage, When one player wins the first point from a deuce and needs one more point to win the game, not applicable when using deciding points. Advantage set, Set won by a player or team having won at least six games with an advantage over the opponent. Final sets in the draws of the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the tennis Olympic event. The Davis Cup was until 2015, when it switched to tie breaks, All, Used by the chair umpire to announce scores when both players have the same number of points or the same number of games. When both players are at 40, the term is deuce. All-Comers, Tournament in which all took part except the reigning champion. The winner of the All-Comers event would play the title holder in the Challenge Round, all-court, Style of play that is a composite of all the different playing styles, which includes baseline, transition, and serve and volley styles. Alley, Area of the court between the singles and the sidelines, which together are known as tramlines. Approach shot, A groundstroke shot used as a setup as the approaches the net. ATP, Acronym for Association of Tennis Professionals, the organizing body of mens professional tennis. ATP Champions Race, ATP point ranking system starts at the beginning of the year. The top eight players at the end of the qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals. ATP World Tour Finals, Formerly known as the Tennis Masters Cup, Australian formation, In doubles, a formation where the server and partner stand on the same side of the court before starting the point. Backhand, Stroke in which the ball is hit with the back of the hand facing the ball at the moment of contact

6.
Suzanne Lenglen
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Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen was a French tennis player who won 31 Championship titles between 1914 and 1926. She dominated womens tennis from 1914 until 1926 when she turned professional, a flamboyant, trendsetting athlete, she was the first female tennis celebrity and one of the first international female sport stars, named La Divine by the French press. Lenglens 241 titles,181 match winning streak and 341-7 match record are hard to imagine happening in todays tennis atmosphere, Lenglen is regarded by some to be the greatest female tennis player in history. A daughter of Charles and Anaïs Lenglen, Suzanne Lenglen was born in Paris, during her youth, she suffered from numerous health problems including chronic asthma, which also plagued her at a later age. Because his daughter was so frail and sickly, Charles Lenglen and her first try at the game was in 1910, when she played on the tennis court at the family property in Marest-sur-Matz. The young girl enjoyed the game, and her decided to train her further in the sport. His training methods included an exercise where, the story goes, he would lay down a handkerchief at various places on the court, only four years after her first tennis strokes, Lenglen played in the final of the 1914 French Championships, aged only 14. She lost to reigning champion Marguerite Broquedis in the final 5–7, 6–4 and that same year, she won the World Hard Court Championships held at Saint-Cloud, turning 15 during the tournament. This made her the youngest winner of a championship in tennis history. The match, which one of the hallmarks of tennis history, was played before 8,000 spectators, including King George V. After splitting the first two sets, Lenglen took a 4–1 lead in the set before Chambers rallied to take a 6–5 lead. Lenglen saved the first match point when her service return trickled off the wood of her racket, Lenglen survived the second match point when Chambers hit a drop shot into the net. Lenglen then went on to win the match 10–8, 4–6 and it was not only her performances on the court which were noted, however. The staid British also were in shock at the boldness of the French woman who also casually sipped brandy between sets, at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Lenglen dominated the womens singles. On her path to the medal, she gave up only four games. She then teamed up with Max Décugis to win gold medal in the mixed doubles. She was eliminated in a womens doubles semifinal and won the medal after their opponents withdrew. From 1919 through 1925, Lenglen won the Wimbledon singles championship every year with the exception of 1924, health problems due to jaundice forced her to withdraw after winning her quarterfinal match

7.
Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers
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Dorothea Lambert Chambers was a British tennis player. She won seven Wimbledon Womens Singles titles and a medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics. In 1900 Douglass made her singles debut at Wimbledon and, after a bye in the first round, three years later, she won her first of seven ladies singles titles. On 6 April 1907 she married Robert Lambert Chambers and was known by her married surname Lambert Chambers. In 1908 she won the medal in the womens singles event at the 1908 Summer Olympics after a straight-sets victory in the final against compatriot Dora Boothby. She wrote Tennis for Ladies, which was published in 1910, the book contained photographs of tennis techniques and contained advice on attire and equipment. In 1911 Lambert Chambers won the final at Wimbledon against Dora Boothby 6–0, 6–0. The only other player who won a Grand Slam singles final without losing a game was Steffi Graf when she defeated Natalia Zvereva in the 1988 French Open final. In 1919 Lambert Chambers played the longest Wimbledon final up to time,44 games against Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen. Lambert Chambers held two match points at 6–5 in the set but eventually lost to Lenglen 8–10, 6–4. Lambert Chambers only played sporadic singles after 1921 but continued to compete in doubles until 1927 and she made the singles quarter-finals of the US Open in 1925 and, from 1924 to 1926, she captained Britains Wightman Cup team. In the 1925 Wightman Cup edition she played, at the age of 46, in 1928 she turned to professional coaching. Lambert Chambers was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1981, in addition to playing tennis Lambert Chambers was one of the leading badminton players at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1903,1904 and 1907 she was the runner-up at the event of the All England Badminton Championships. Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers at the International Tennis Hall of Fame Works by Lambert Chambers at Project Gutenberg Book Lawn Tennis for Ladies at Archive. org

8.
Geraldine Beamish
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Winifred Geraldine Ramsey Beamish was an English tennis player who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics. Winifred Geraldine Ramsey was born on 23 July 1883 at Forest Gate and she married tennis player Alfred Beamish on 30 September 1911. She competed at The Championships, Wimbledon from 1910 throughout 1933 in each year the tournament was held, in 1922, she lost to later champion Suzanne Lenglen, the following year to Molla Mallory. In 1920 she won the medal in the Olympics doubles competition with her partner Dorothy Holman. She also competed in the doubles event with her husband Alfred. In the singles competition she had a walkover in the first round and was eliminated in the round by her doubles partner Dorothy Holman. One of her greatest triumphs was her title at the World Covered Court Championship in 1920 where she defeated Kathleen McKane Godfree in the final in three sets, along with McKane Godfree she won the WCCC doubles title in 1919,1920 and 1923. She died on 10 May 1972 at St Pancras, London, winifred BEAMISH at the International Tennis Federation

9.
Molla Mallory
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Anna Margrethe Molla Bjurstedt Mallory was a Norwegian tennis player, naturalized American. She won a record eight titles at the U. S. Championships. Indoor Championships that year unheralded and beat defending champion Marie Wagner 6–4, 6–4. She also won the title in Cincinnati in 1915. Mallory had less in the way of equipment than most tennis champions. But the sturdy, Norwegian-born woman, the daughter of an officer, was a fierce competitor. Robert Kelleher, a president of the United States Tennis Association. She walked around in a manner that said youd better look out or shed deck you and she was an indomitable scrambler and runner. She was a player of the old school and she held that a woman could not sustain a volleying attack in a long match. I do not know a girl who can play the net game. Therefore, she relied on her game, consisting of strong forehand attacks. She took the ball on the rise and drove it from corner to corner to keep her opponent on the constant run and her quick returns made her passing shots extremely effective. She once said, I find that the girls generally do not hit the ball as hard as they should. I believe in always hitting the ball with all my might, I do not call this tennis. Her second round match with Suzanne Lenglen at the 1921 U. S. National Championships brought Mallory her greatest celebrity, before the match, Bill Tilden advised Mallory to hit the cover off the ball. Once the match began, Mallory attacked with a vengeance and was ahead 2–0 when Lenglen began to cough, after the match, the USTA accused Lenglen of feigning illness. The French Tennis Federation exonerated Lenglen and accepted her testimony that she had been ill, however, Albert de Joannis, vice president of the FTF who accompanied Lenglen during her trip to the United States, quit his post in protest of the FTFs conclusion. He claimed that Lenglen was perfectly fit during the match and that, Lenglen avenged the loss by defeating Mallory 6–2, 6–0 in 26 minutes in the 1922 Wimbledon final, the shortest final in a Grand Slam tournament on record

10.
Helen Aitchison
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Frances Helen Aitchison was a Sunderland-born tennis player who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. In 1912 she won the medal with her partner Herbert Barrett in the indoor mixed doubles competition. She also participated in the singles event but was eliminated in the quarter-finals. Aitchison was born in Sunderland in 1881, the eldest daughter of shipbuilder James Aitchison and his wife Mary, of Grange Terrace and she competed in the County Championships of 1907 with three of her sisters, Alice, Kathleen and Sibyl, helping Durham to defeat Middlesex 5-4. Aitchison entered the Wimbledon Championships for the first time in 1909, at the age of 27 and she also competed in 1910,1911,1913 and 1914, reaching three semi-finals and two quarter-finals in the Ladies Singles. In 1913 she won the title at World Covered Court Championship in Stockholm. Her success at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912 made her the first person from Sunderland to become an Olympic medalist, at Epsom in 1914 she married John Leisk

11.
Elizabeth Ryan
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Elizabeth Montague Ryan was an American tennis player who was born in Anaheim, California but lived most of her life in the United Kingdom. Ryan won 26 Grand Slam titles, nineteen of those titles were in womens doubles and mixed doubles at Wimbledon, an all-time record for those two events. Twelve of her Wimbledon titles were in doubles and seven were in mixed doubles. Ryan also won four doubles titles at the French Championships, as well as one womens doubles title. Although she reached the Wimbledon singles finals twice, Ryan never won the title, eight of her losses at Wimbledon were to players generally considered to be among the best ever. Ryan and her longtime partner Lenglen never lost a doubles match at Wimbledon. Only Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova won more matches at Wimbledon than Ryan, 47–15 in singles, 73–4 in womens doubles, before World War I, womens tennis consisted primary of slogging duels from the baseline. There were a few volleying pioneers, notably, hazel Wightman and Ethel Larcombe, but volleying as a fundamental, aggressive technique was first injected into the womens game by. However, Tinling also said about Ryan, Elizabeth wasnt fast enough for singles, Ryan was ranked second behind Mallory in the year-end rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association for 1925 and 1926. When tennis writer and television commentator Bud Collins tried to arrange for Ryan and King to film an interview together at Wimbledon in 1979, King said, I always liked seeing Miss Ryan at Wimbledon, and Id try to be friendly, but she didnt seem to want it. Sure, I wanted the record, but I wasnt trying to steal a possession of hers, King also said, here is no doubt in my mind that she just didnt want to be alive to see her record broken. She was, she had held it for a long, long time, but records are there to be broken. ACF = All comers final, with the winner to play the defending champion, SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played. SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of tournaments played. SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of tournaments played. Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam or Olympic singles final Elizabeth Ryan at the International Tennis Hall of Fame

12.
Ethel Thomson Larcombe
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Ethel Larcombe was a British female tennis player and badminton player. She won the singles tennis title at the 1912 Wimbledon Championships as well as 11 badminton titles at the All England Badminton Championships. Ethel was born 8 June 1879 as the child of Herbert Warneford Thomson, surgeon. Her older brother Hugh was born in 1878 and she first competed at Wimbledon in 1902 when she lost in the first round to Agnes Morton. The following year,1903, she reached the final of the All-Comers tournament in which she was defeated by Dorothea Douglass in three sets, Larcombe did not play competitive tennis for four years from 1907 until her return in 1911. In 1912 she became Wimbledon champion by first defeating Charlotte Cooper Sterry in the All-Comers final, the following year she was unable to defend her singles title when she was injured in the final of the mixed doubles. In total she participated in 11 editions of the Wimbledon Championships between 1902 and 1921 and she won the Scottish Championships singles title three times and she won the singles title at the Irish Championships in 1912 defeating Mrs. Norton-Barry in the final in two sets. In contrast to most of her contemporaries Larcombe played her service underhand, in 1903 A. Wallis Myers wrote that her favorite shot was the backhand down the line and that she possessed an effective smash. According to Dorothea Lambert-Chambers she was one of the best female volleyers of her time but did not have a good condition. After her return to tennis in 1911 several aspects of her game had improved including her forehand shot as well as her stamina. As a badminton player she won 11 titles at the All England Badminton Championships, five of them in singles, four in womens doubles. On 15 October 1906 she married Major Dudley Larcombe, secretary of the All England Club from 1925 to 1939